For two months, Carranza and her husband slept on a couch in a small, one-bathroom apartment in downtown Toronto that they shared with two other couples as they searched for a home.

The real estate agents Carranza was working with said the reason they were rejected was because they were newcomers with no credit scores, no reference letters and — at the time — no jobs. So the agents suggested they offer up to a year of rent up front.

Desperate, Carranza started looking for options on Kijiji. There, she found a one-bedroom-one-den apartment near Kipling Station for $2,250. The landlords were willing to meet with Carranza and her husband in person.

They ended up handing over $28,300 — their life savings — to prove their reliability to the landlords and, finally, secure a home. (CBC News has seen emails that confirm the transaction.)